www.pwc.com/ceosurvey
Delivering
results
Growth and
value in a
volatile world
15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
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2 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
Preface
We all know these are uncertain times. Stories
of strengthening economies, employment
improvements and breakthrough products
from some parts of the world are offset by
reports on natural disasters, government debt,
regulatory changes and political turmoil in
others. It’s hard to know for sure which way
the wind is blowing.
While change presents opportunity for some,

about the risks and changing conditions for
growth. The focus on talent and customers
today is a natural ‘next step’ towards
establishing their organisations in the markets
where they operate and building the trust
needed for the business of tomorrow.
That’s why so many CEOs are changing talent
strategies to improve their ability to attract
and retain the right people. Skills shortages are
very real – just 12 of CEOs say they’re ğnding
it easier to hire people in their industries – and
the constraints are having Tuantiğable impacts
on corporate growth. Just as our customers
are changing rapidly, so are our workforces –
and our talent needs are changing, too.
I want to thank the more than 1,250 company
leaders from 60 countries who shared their
thinking with us. The success of the PwC
Annual Global CEO Survey – now in its
15th year – is directly attributable to the
candid participation of leaders around the
world. The demands on their time are many
and varied; we greatly appreciate their
involvement. And I am particularly grateful
to the 38 CEOs who sat down with us near the
end of 2011 for more extensive conversations.
Their thoughts added invaluable context to
our Tuantitative ğndings.

Dennis M. Nally

-4
-5
Operations
People
Governance
Base: All respondents (1,258)
Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
4 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
Contents
Conğdence disrupted 5
Balancing global capabilities
and local opportunities 9
Resilience to global disruptions
and regional risks 16
The talent challenge 20
What’s next 27
Final thoughts from our CEO interviews 30
Research methodology and key contacts 36
Acknowledgements 37
Related reading 38
15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012 5
Confidence disrupted
The year 2012 unfolds with wide
disparities in potential outcomes in
many economies, and little prospect of
a coordinated turnaround. Just 15% of
CEOs believe that the global economy
will improve this year (see Figure 2).
Incremental improvements in business
optimism seen in the PwC 15th Annual

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in the region – in North Africa and
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Figure 2: Half of CEOs expect the global economy to decline in 2012
Q: Do you believe the global economy will improve, stay the same,
or decline over the next 12 months?
15%
4%
34%
48%
36%
Improve
Stay the same
Decline
Don’t know
Base: All respondents (1,258)
Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
6 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
CEOs are manoeuvring to outpace the
competition and the market, rather
than relying on riding economic
updrafts or just riding out volatility.
They are nearly three times more
conğdent in their own capacity to
generate growth in their business than
they are in the global economy’s
growth prospects.

in developed markets believe that
emerging economies are more
important to their company’s future,
as do 68% of CEOs who are themselves
based in emerging markets. The world
may be slowed for a time by ğnancial
problems, but this structural shift is
potentially bigger than the institutional
problems and depressed growth in
developed economies. Gradually rising
incomes and economic opportunities
Brian Duperreault,
President and CEO,
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.
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Figure 3: Short-term confidence has declined – but remains well above the levels seen in 2009 and 2010
Q: How confident are you about your company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months? Yearly comparison.
Very confident about company’s
prospects for revenue growth
over the next 12 months
26%
31%
41%

Organisation’s Doha Round have
foundered and a few governments have
taken measures to protect domestic
industries they consider vital. But that
shouldn’t obscure real progress
recently on bilateral and regional levels
in fostering cross-border commerce
and investment. Trade has rebounded
since the downturn began, according
to data from the World Trade
Organisation.
1
Add in the greater
mobility of capital today (both ğnancial
and human) towards new opportunities
and the full potential of a far more
closely integrated world comes
together. CEOs believe that the forces
of global integration will stay on track:
45% believe the world will become
more open to free international trade
(with fewer than a third expecting a
pullback) and 56% are convinced that
cross-border capital Ġows will not come
under new constraints.
As a result of these factors, business
leaders’ commitment to doing more
business globally is, if anything,
accelerating despite economic,
regulatory and other uncertainties.

Focus on corporate reputation and rebuilding trust
Capital structure
Engagement with your board of directors
No change Some change A major change
%
2012
%
2011
21
26 50 22
32 50 17
38 42 19
49 35 15
55 29 14
63 27 8
55 23 17
25 47 27
23 54 23
23 48 28
36 41 22
50 34 15
52 34 12
52 31
Base: All respondents 2012 (1,258); 2011 (1,201)
Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
8 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
There will be winners and losers as
businesses pivot to address markets
they are less familiar with. CEOs see
risks and customer segments through

CEOs have learned that prudent risk
management should focus less on the
probabilities of particular events, and
more on understanding the potential
consequences they have to prepare for
from a range of risks. Many companies
weren’t directly affected by the
improbable Fukushima crisis, for
example, or the Ġoods in Thailand.
However, supply chain disruption as
severe as those two events caused
should be on every company’s radar.
For our 15th Annual Global CEO
Survey, we polled 1,258 CEOs based in
60 different countries from September
through to early December 2011.
We supplemented their comments
on plans for business growth and
assessments of constraints with insights
from the global PwC network and
in-depth interviews with 38 CEOs from
all regions. The combined conclusions
form the basis of this report.
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As businesses have faced volatile
global conditions since 2008, CEOs
have crafted new approaches to risk

markets generate a lot of earnings
so we have no plans to shrink our
presence there. On the other hand,
we are planning to invest substantially
in the emerging markets.”
Making talent strategic: Not having
the right talent in the right place is a
leading threat to growth for many
CEOs. One in four CEOs said they were
unable to pursue a market opportunity
or have had to cancel or delay a
strategic initiative because of talent
constraints. There are short-term
issues, such as an acute shortage of
trained managers and technically
skilled workers. And there are long-
term concerns with the capacity of
educational systems everywhere to
keep up with business needs.
These areas suggest a set of questions
that business leaders should consider
in order to overcome execution
challenges in 2012 and position for
longer term growth – questions which
we comment on in the last section of
this report.
Andy Green
CEO, Logica Plc
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Tata is now the largest manufacturer in
the UK. Taiwan’s HTC pioneered the
use of Google’s Android software. New
operational strategies are required to
compete successfully in such markets.
“You have to innovate, design,
manufacture and source locally to be
successful anywhere,” said David Cote,
Chairman and CEO of Honeywell. And
that’s what CEOs are investing to do:
build fully Ġedged operations,
including manufacturing, in each of
their priority markets, build deeper
relationships with their customers,
innovate anew, take advantage of local
talent and brands, reduce risk and
strengthen supply chains.
Over 60 different economies were
named by CEOs as key overseas
markets, some adjacent to their home
market and others on the other side of
the world. Solid growth and rising
domestic spending power (see Figure 5)
in more economies around the world,
such as Indonesia and Turkey, for
example, are propelling CEOs past a
mindset focused solely on the BRICs.
Maria Ramos
Group Chief Executive,
ABSA Group Ltd

Korea
Russia
India
Turkey
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America
US
EU27
ASEAN
MENA
Source: Oxford Economics
10 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
The US and Germany were among
the economies identiğed by the most
CEOs, and mentioned as economies
where they are expanding capabilities.
Equal numbers of CEOs from
developed and emerging markets
identiğed the two countries as
important. China presents a different
picture of diversiğcation: it’s important
to 37% of CEOs based in developed
economies versus 24% of CEOs
based in emerging economies.
Many of their objectives in the next
12 months are similar (see Figure 6).
Building manufacturing capacity, for
example, is important for many CEOs
in each of their key markets. China
faces increasing competition as CEOs

President and CEO, PTT Plc
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Figure 6: Growing customer bases is far from the only objective of CEOs in their key overseas markets
Q: Which of the following objectives do you hope to achieve in the next 12 months? (The top 10 countries mentioned by CEOs in ‘Which countries,
excluding the one in which you are based, do you consider most important for your overall growth prospects over the next 12 months?’)
AustraliaJapanFranceUKRussia
GermanyIndiaBrazilUSAChina
Build R&D/innovation capacity or acquire intellectual property
Build manufacturing capacity
Access raw materials or components
Access local source of capital
Build internal service delivery capacity
Access local talent base
Grow your customer base
79
55
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and were also more likely to have
divested an operation. Responses this
year indicate the potential of a modest
pull-back on international deal-making
over the next 12 months: 28% of
CEOs globally plan to complete a
cross-border deal in 2012, a decline
from the 34% who agreed last year
(see Figure 7 overleaf).
The pool of potential acquirers is
becoming more diverse, as are the
target locations. While most cross-
border deals continue to stem from
investors in either North America or
Western Europe, Chinese ğrms have
emerged as major international
investors, as have Indian companies,
and this trend is set to continue.
“Company valuations are now much
more attractive than they were last
year,” said Ajay G. Piramal, CEO of
Piramal Group Ltd. “Today, we
would pay half or one-third of what
we would have paid for these
companies last year.”
CEOs based in Africa and the
Middle East are the most bullish
about continued deal-making in 2012:
40% expect to complete a cross-border
transaction in the next 12 months.

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Rohana Rozhan
CEO, ASTRO Malaysia Holdings
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12 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
Acquisitions are always risky, even
during a time when assets can be
acquired at seemingly attractive
prices. Yet our research suggests that
acquisitions in emerging markets –
exactly the type of acquisition that
appears to be more popular today –
are particularly risky, with lower
chances of success even for proven
deal-makers. In our experience

regional for some CEOs and a thousand
miles away for others. But in 2012, the
tilt is clearly towards decentralising,
creating more products whose design
as well as production and distribution
is more localised.
4 PwC, ‘Levelling the playing ğeld: avoiding the pitfalls of the past when doing deals in emerging markets’ (2012).
Martin Senn
CEO, Zurich Financial Services Group
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Yang Yuanqing
Chairman and CEO, Lenovo
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Figure 7: A modest decline in cross-border M&A is expected in 2012
Q: Which, if any, of the following restructuring activities do you plan to initiate in the coming 12 months?
Responses of ‘Complete a cross-border merger or acquisition’.
% of CEOs anticipating M&A (left axis)
Number of deals (right axis)
70

Substantial proportions, between 17%
and 36%, say they are designing new
products speciğcally for local markets
(see Figure 8). The balance is surely
changing as companies increasingly
operate in dissimilar markets and learn
to segment better. The advantages
(and expense) of managing a uniform
brand across many markets are being
weighed against the different needs,
cultures and price points of different
customer bases, and in many cases,
found wanting. But businesses
innovating locally need to reach scale
in order to stay proğtable. So global
and regional operations still have an
important role in the mix.
Segmentation in focus. CEOs expect
to either modify or create products
for speciğc markets to suit local
customer preferences. Some four
billion of the world’s population live in
countries where the per capita income
is between US$ 1,000-4,000 per year.
This vast segment represents an
‘Emerging Middle’ class in China,
India and elsewhere that is prompting
business leaders to fundamentally
rethink business strategies that have
been successful elsewhere.

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34
17
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26
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25
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5

,nnovating on multiSle fronts
Improving the effectiveness of
innovation continues to be a major
strategic priority. Three out of four
CEOs plan to change R&D and
innovation capacity in 2012, of
which 24% expect ‘major change’.
This is partly related to a widening
değnition of innovation. CEOs in
industries in the throes of disruptive
change require radical innovation;
if their business cannot quickly
create new products or services that
customers will buy, they will not
survive. However, innovation does
not just mean end product or service
changes – it sometimes now includes
taking costs out of processes or forming
strategic alliances to collaborate. Each
aspect of the business is fair game for
reinvention. Executives are targeting
changes to their revenue and margin
models – and the organisation as well
– to ğnd better ways to innovate
across many dimensions.
6
Supporting the capacity to innovate is
at the forefront of priorities for CEOs

CEOs in communications, and media
and entertainment, two industries
facing swiftly changing dynamics,
are the most active on all fronts,
whether refocusing innovation efforts
for existing products and services
or for entirely new products in new
models (see Figure 9). But competitive
intensity continues to rise in virtually
all industries, particularly as the
Internet transforms possibilities.
Innovation and competition is
increasingly crossing industry
boundaries, as Francisco González,
Chairman and CEO of Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) SA,
pointed out: “Our future competitors
will not be traditional banks but large
technology companies.”
Those in industries with a historical
dependence on innovation are still
among the most likely to change
approaches. A third of CEOs in
pharmaceutical and life sciences,
chemicals and technology industries
expect ‘major change’ to R&D and
innovation capacities in their
companies as patent expirations and
low R&D productivity are leaving
many large pharmaceuticals with

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President and CEO, TIAA-CREF
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15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012 15
While primary R&D is still largely
conducted in home markets, businesses
are increasingly shifting some
capabilities to their new priority
markets. Spending by foreign afğliates
of US multinationals on R&D in foreign
countries, for example, rose to 15.6%
of total multinational R&D spending
in 2009 from 12.5% in 1999, according
to a recent report by the US Bureau

is even more heightened. Today we’re
getting as many ideas out of, say, China
and India as we were before out of the
US and Europe.”
Antonio Rios Amorim
Chairman and CEO
Corticeira Amorim SGPS SA
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8 Kevin Barefoot and Raymond Mataloni, ‘Operations of US Multinational Companies in the United States and Abroad’, Bureau of Economic Analysis (November 2011).
Figure 9: Many industries see significant pressure for both process innovations and radical innovation
Q: To what degree are you changing the emphasis of your company’s overall innovation portfolio in the following areas?
Responses of ‘significantly increase’.
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
10 20
New business models
Global average
Cost reductions to existing processes

17
18
19
20
2
3
6
11
10
9
8
Banking & Capital Markets
Business and Professional Services
Healthcare
Automotive
Transportation & Logistics
Metals
Industrial manufacturing
Retail
Consumer Goods
Hospitality & Leisure
Chemicals
Forestry, Paper & Packaging
Global
Construction/Engineering
Asset Management
Pharma & Life
Insurance
Technology
Communications

enterprise-risk planning process.”
There’s greater awareness of speciğc
and evolving risks within different
markets, and how local risks can be
ampliğed into global ones. Yet the
speed with which risk events unfold
– and the extent to which their impacts
on the business spread across different
risk categories – appear to be
escalating. In the past 12 months alone,
56% of CEOs said their businesses were
ğnancially impacted by the sovereign
debt crisis in Europe, another 29% cited
an impact from the earthquake and
tsunami in Japan, and 21% cited the
political upheaval in the Middle East.
Key operational moves have already
improved organisational resilience.
After the earthquake and tsunami in
Japan, for example, CEOs based in
Asia Paciğc focused on improving
their company’s ability to react more
quickly to a supply chain shock.
9

They sought new locations for their
operations and reinforced buildings.
Changes to supply logistics and
increasing contingency plans in
supplier networks were also areas that

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changing environment.
Richard O’Brien
President and CEO
Newmont Mining Corporation
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15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012 17
Companies are also learning that
preparedness for uncertainty is about
focusing on the consequences of
business disruption. This approach
can bring risk discussions to a more
strategic level. In our experience, when
the focus is on preparing to respond to
consequences, discussions occur across
people involved in strategy, operations,
risk management, crisis management
and business continuity management.
By contrast, a focus on assessing the
likelihood of particular risks tends to
remain theoretical and the domain of
risk managers rather than the functions
that will have to respond to disruptions.

European CEOs are concerned about
instability in capital markets and
three-quarters are concerned about the
government response to ğscal crises.
It naturally follows, then, that 70%
believe that ensuring stability in the
ğnancial sector should be a top priority
of their governments. And stability
includes calls for consistency in new
regulations for the ğnancial sector.
&entral and (astern (uroSe:
Exchange rates, corruption. These are
two important threats for business
leaders in CEE economies, with CEOs
based there much more likely to report
concerns than global average. As with
CEOs in Asia Paciğc, concerns related
to adjusting to rapidly changing
consumer demands are more prevalent.
North America:
Constrained state spending, skills
mismatches. Like CEOs in Europe,
many in North America believe rising
public debts and değcits are a key
threat, yet they are less concerned
about an increasing tax burden and
capital market instability. They’re also
among the least concerned about
inĠation and protectionism.
Rüdiger Grube

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CEO, TITAN Cement SA
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18 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
Asia 3aciğc:
Currency volatility, energy costs.
Currency Ġuctuations are among the
top economic and policy threats for
CEOs in Asia, and CEOs there are
more concerned about inĠation than
most others. Skills shortages, rising
tax burdens and higher energy costs
loom as potential constraints on
expansion plans.
Latin America:
Underdeveloped infrastructures.
Infrastructure looms larger for
CEOs in Latin America as a growth
threat and CEOs naturally call for
governments to address it. Corruption

Uncertain or volatile
economic growth
Public deficits
Over-regulation
Unstable capital
markets
Exchange rate
volatility
Protectionism
Western Europe
Uncertain or volatile
economic growth
Public deficits
Unstable capital
markets
Shift in consumers
Over-regulation
Exchange rate
volatility
Asia Pacific
Uncertain or volatile
economic growth
Exchange rate
volatility
Unstable capital
markets
Public deficits
Over-regulation
Shift in consumers
Inflation

Unstable capital
markets
Inflation
Business threats Denotes equal rankingEconomic and policy threats
Exchange rate
volatility
Availability of
key skills
Shift in consumers
Increasing tax
burden
New market
entrants
Increasing tax
burden
Inability to
finance growth
Availability of
key skills
Energy costs
Increasing tax
burden
Availability of
key skills
Energy costs
Increasing tax
burden
Availability of
key skills
Inadequacy of

the country.
Even unpredictable risks can be managed. We cannot know when a natural
disaster or social upheaval will spring a surprise, but we can predict which
markets are most vulnerable to such shocks – and how decision-makers are
likely to respond when they hit. Situational awareness and planning can
ensure that their impact on balance sheets, supply chains and market
demand is anticipated.
As they seek growth in new markets, many executives focus on market-
entry risks, but underestimate the risks that come with sustained market
presence – ğguring that they have good people on the ground and a
good lay of the land. But just as with the political, economic and social
environments, the business environment has changed rapidly in developed
markets. Business leaders must constantly return to the fundamental
question: “How must my business practices evolve to proğt from the torrent
of change underway everywhere around the world?”
The largest emerging markets – notably Brazil, Russia, India and China
– illustrate this principle. Many large multinationals now regard a presence
in these countries as a competitive imperative. Yet, as we have seen
recently, threats to or changes in political leadership, revelations of
corruption and ofğcial malfeasance, and perceived economic threats
from abroad can have profound downside impacts on the local business
environment. Early movers and those who understand the shifting terrain
in these countries will have substantial advantages, and unpleasant
surprises await those who enter late or without preparation for the torrent
of change underway in these markets. For example, one ğrm watching the
opening of a market for its services after the 2005 Chinese accession to
the WTO bought out its joint-venture partner and quickly established
itself in interior cities once closed to foreign ğrms. The investment greatly
increased its corporate proğle among local and central government
stakeholders and spread the brand name quickly in a lucrative market.

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environment where we can do
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20 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
The talent challenge
Theoretically, ğnding a good candidate
to ğll a position should now be a very
straightforward exercise. There have
never been as many educated people
in the world, nor has it ever been as
simple for employers to tap this vast
pool online. Highly skilled talent is
also highly mobile; but just in case,
networking advances also mean that
many more tasks can be handled
remotely or outsourced.
The reality is far different. A Chinese
automaker attends job fairs in
Germany, even though China produces
large numbers of graduate engineers
each year. High jobless rates persist in
the US and Europe, disproportionately
among the young, even as businesses
fret that they cannot attract the
digitally adept ‘Millennial’ generation
to pursue careers in their industries.
Too many well-educated citizens of the
Middle East and elsewhere are not in
the workforce at all. “Before, people

most industries, as well as in retention
in some markets and industries,
as businesses compete for highly
talented people. CEOs are taking
many approaches to address the
shortfalls, as Andrey Kostin, President
and Chairman of the Management
Board of JSC VTB Bank, put it:
“In some countries we have constant
shortages of risk managers or retail
experts, for example, or local ğnance
experts with relevant expertise.
Sometimes the solution is to relocate
people from other ofğces.”
Tom Albanese
Chief Executive, Rio Tinto
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Chairman, Bayer AG
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less expect to make dramatic changes,
such as making an acquisition to
secure needed talent, seeking
partnerships to get access to skills, or
moving operations to more talent-rich
areas. Slightly more CEOs (38%)
expect to make signiğcant investments
in technology to circumvent shortages.
Hiring talent. CEOs across all
industries say it’s become more
difğcult to hire, but the challenges are
acute in knowledge industries such as
pharmaceuticals and life sciences, and
technology, and in heavy industries
such as industrial manufacturing and
automotive (see Figure 12). The need
for technically skilled people to
manage the increasing sophistication
in production is strong, and the growth
in demand for professionals in
manufacturing is projected to be over
4% a year across all economies and to
peak at over 10% in developing
economies in 2020.
11

Even industries such as banking that
have retrenched workers in large
numbers are still struggling to get the
right people. Developed market banks

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CEO, Adecoagro SA
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President and CEO
Newmont Mining Corporation
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demand for them.
11 World Economic Forum, ‘Global Talent Risk’ (2011).
12 PwC, ‘Securing the talent to succeed: Making the most of international mobility in ğnancial services’ (November 2011).
Figure 12: Different industries, different requirements – but skills gaps remain
Q: In general, has it become more difficult or less difficult to hire workers in your industry, or is it unchanged?
Global
Consumer goods
Automotive
Healthcare

Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
22 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
As part of this effort, more CEOs are
now integrating HR with business
planning at the highest levels of the
company: 79% of CEOs say that the
chief human resources ofğcer, or
equivalent, is one of their direct reports
(most have ten or fewer direct reports).
They are also seeking a better
understanding of the scale and
effectiveness of their investments in
talent. Productivity and labour cost
remain important measurements;
these are the tools investors, lenders
and businesses use to benchmark
progress (or lack of it). They are largely
standardised in many industries, and
thus easy to implement. Yet for many
CEOs, those tools aren’t enough
(see Figure 14 opposite).
They are very good at telling a CEO
how the business is performing
today relative to its peers, but not at
indicating whether the organisation
is investing enough in employees to
generate future growth.
Such measurements cannot isolate
skills gaps and struggle to identify
the pivotal jobs that drive exponential

Healthcare
Business services
Technology
Communications
Chemicals
Automotive
Global
Insurance
Entertainment & Media
Industrial manufacturing
Banking and Capital markets
Asset management
Consumer goods
Construction/Engineering
Retail
Pharmaceuticals & Life sciences
Transportation/Logistics
Metals
Hospitality & Leisure
Forestry, Paper & Packaging
Increase by less than 5%
Increase by 5-8% Increase by more than 8%
Decrease by less than 5%Decrease by 5-8%
Decrease by more than 8%
%
66 93138
56 181723
1124191820
714 191224
1 11 101134

Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012
15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012 23
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Employee engagement analysis can give business leaders a clear link between
engagement and improved performance measures such as retention and
discretionary effort. The point is to align strategy and engagement – and to
thus understand the organisation’s capacity to generate the beneğts derived
from engagement in ways that directly impact delivery of the business plan.
A study conducted by the Corporate Executive Board found that the
employees who were most committed to their organisations gave 57%
more effort and were 87% less likely to resign than employees who consider
themselves disengaged.
13
Yet during the recent downturn, engagement
levels among top performers fell more sharply than for workers overall,
PwC has found.
14
That’s why forward-looking businesses are going further. They’re coupling
a clear view of the pivotal roles within their business – the roles that create
(or destroy) disproportionate business value – and applying data mining
and predictive modelling to gain insight into retention, recruitment or
productivity. For example:
ō a retention score for each employee, which measures the probability that
an employee will leave in the next year;
ō use of engagement studies to identify barriers to high performance
within speciğc groups of employees, as well as the tangible improvements
that can drive both engagement and business performance; or
ō a focus on the direct market-facing impact employee engagement has
on measures of business performance such as customer satisfaction or
product quality.

80
60
40
20
0
Costs of
employee
turnover
Return on
investment on
human capital
Assessments
of internal
advancement
Labour
costs
Employees’
views and
needs
Staff
productivity
Information Gap:
CEOs believe
information is
important but
don’t receive
comprehensive
reports
Do not receive information
Not adequate

valuable employee leaves, as well as
the expense related to retraining, are
beginning to be better appreciated:
21% say the information they receive
on the cost of employee turnover to
their organisations is not adequate and
47% receive some information but
want more. “We need to grow our own
talent,” said Nancy McKinstry, Chair of
the Executive Board and CEO of
Wolters Kluwer. “It’s very difğcult often
to take people from outside to come
into the company and have them be
productive in a short period of time.”
To develop talent better, however,
companies will need to understand
that what works in one market might
not work in another. Mentoring
programmes, for example, are popular
in some countries but fail in others,
because of the way coaching is
received in different cultures. Even
companies that are well respected for
their development practices are
rethinking global talent strategies and
adapting them for different markets.
Holding the organisation together.
High-potential middle managers are
the employees more CEOs across all
industries and regions fear losing the

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CEO, ASTRO Malaysia Holdings
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Figure 15: Recruiting and retaining high-potential middle managers is the biggest concern for CEOs
Q: With which of the following groups do you currently face the greatest challenges with regard to recruitment and retention?
Respondents were able to choose all that applied.
High-potential middle managers
Skilled production workers
Younger workers
Senior management team
Overseas unit heads
%
Emerging Markets Developed Markets
55
50
35
31
32
30
35
21
13
21

which offer opportunities to run
growing, global businesses and which
can increasingly match Western
compensation packages. In 2007, 41%
of highly skilled Chinese professionals
preferred working for a Western
multinational, while 9% preferred a
job with a domestic ğrm. By the second
quarter of 2010, the preference for
employment by a multinational had
risen to 44%, but the preference for
Chinese employers had jumped to
28%, according to the Corporate
Executive Board.
17
While 53% of CEOs expect to move
experienced people from the home
market to newer markets to ğll skills
gaps (see Figure 16), reverse transfers,
involving moving top performers in
emerging markets into developed
markets for a short period of time to
become ‘credentialised’, can also be
effective retention and development
measures. And businesses are making
greater use of short-term assignments
to address skills shortages in high-
priority markets, and costs related to
long-term assignments. These can be
extended business travel or Ġexible

our talent from within the company
We plan to primarily recruit local talent
wherever we have market needs
We plan to move experienced employees from newer
markets to home markets to circumvent skills shortages
We plan to recruit more experienced talent
from outside the company
We plan to move more talent across borders
to fill market needs
%
Agree with statement
Don’t know
Agree with statement
53 16
67
24
70 19
31%
8%
11%
Base: All respondents (1,258)
Source: PwC 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012